


Arguing Over Banana Donuts

by everystareverywhere



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, bakery shop, book shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1841809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everystareverywhere/pseuds/everystareverywhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Tyler hates the owner of the book shop down the street.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arguing Over Banana Donuts

He always hung up without saying good-bye. It was one of the things Rose Tyler hated most about that obnoxious John Noble. He worked the book shop right down the road and would often call up, asking for pastries to put out for when customers come in. But he always spoke in such a rush and hung up without ever officially ending the call. Rose couldn’t tolerate him at all, while her partner, Martha Jones, had a softer spot for him.

John was rude, arrogant, and just downright obnoxious. He drove Rose insane. She would like nothing more than to ram his beautiful brown head of hair into a wall a couple of times. Every time she answered his call, she had to bite back the curse that was on the tip of her tongue. She was certain that one day, she would actually kill him.

The worst was when he actually came in. Then she couldn’t roll her eyes at him without him noticing. If Rose was lucky, Martha would be present and able to serve him, but for reasons she couldn’t understand, John always wanted to talk to Rose. She didn’t know why. All they did was argue. Yes, she was the manager of the bakery, but he just never wanted to discuss the baked goods with anyone else. And it wasn’t just discuss, sometimes it would be to yell. Once she sent him a dozen banana cream donuts and he came back, furious that one didn’t have a lot of cream in it. Rose wanted nothing more than to spit into it, though she refrained. Barely.

It did cross her mind, however, on why he kept coming back. There was another bakery just down the road a bit, and though they weren’t good as Rose’s place—if she could be so bold to say so—they were still pretty good. Why didn’t he just go there for his business? But it seemed like he wanted it to be his life mission to annoy the hell out of Rose at every opportunity.

Martha suspected that John had a bit of a crush on Rose and just made up excuses to come see her. Rose scoffed at the idea, and basically told Martha that she was wrong, never in a million years would Mister John Noble be interested in her, not that she cared. Because she didn’t. Not at all. He was a mean person who always came in to yell at her and he never said good-bye before he hung up and honestly why would she –

The next time he came in, Rose tried to watch him, but he got into her face yelling about coffee and sugar and she started yelling back and how could Martha think he likes her? Rose screamed after he left the shop and called out to Martha, saying she was never going to serve that lowlife again. Martha made a small humming sound, almost like she didn’t believe it, but she was going to go along with Rose just for the hell of it.

When he came in the next day, Rose ignored him. He tried a couple of times to get her attention, even so much as calling her “Rosie” something she hated, and something he knew. Finally, Martha took his order and for the first time that Rose can remember, he didn’t have a complaint. Rose informed Martha that from now on, she was handling him. Martha shrugged, but didn’t say a word.

He didn’t come back for three whole days. Rose liked to think that she had finally drove him away for good, and though she kept telling herself that this was a good thing, she just didn’t quite believe that. The last thing Rose wanted to admit was that she actually  _miss_  the tall freckled freak, but it actuality that’s exactly what happened. She  _missed_ him. She didn’t miss the yelling so much as just his presence.

Not that she admitted that to anyone. 

When he finally did come in, he had a bouquet of flowers— _not_ roses, thank goodness, because that would have been too cliché. He asked to speak to Rose in her office, and once the door was shut, he handed her the flowers and made a long speech about how sorry he was for being a jerk and she didn’t deserve that and he liked her pastries very much and did he mention how sorry he was?

Rose wanted to be rude to him, to tell him to get out and never return, but she could tell that he was actually being sincere, so the words died in her throat. Instead she took the flowers (purple hyacinth, an odd choice but they did smell lovely) and said she forgave him, because she was a jerk at times as well. He gave her a stupid grin—one she couldn’t help but return—and he babbled on for a few minutes before stepping backwards towards the door, before actually hitting the door, and leaving the shop, giving a small wave to Martha as he went.

Martha insisted the John had a crush on Rose, and for some reason she blushed instead of denying it. Not that she would go as far as saying she liked him, but maybe…well, maybe he wasn’t as bad as she originally thought.

He returned the next day with a big smile and absolutely no complaints. He sat at one of their small tables and drank his tea while enjoying a banana cream donut that was on the house. And when Rose sat down, she ignored the smile he gave her and she apologized again for her behavior and he waved her off saying not to worry about it anymore.

And maybe a week later she stopped by his bookshop with a cup of tea and his favorite piece of cake, because she realized she never actually stepped into his shop the entire time she’d known him. He thanked her again and again for the tea and told her any book she wanted was on the house, and she couldn’t up but picking up the first book in a sci-fi series that she had heard so much about, but hadn’t read yet. And when she brought it up the counter, how could she ignore the way his eyes lit up when he saw it and told her she had to come back— _had to_ —so they could discuss it? She promised that she would.

And she did.

And when they talked on the phone now, John always said ended their conversations with “good-bye.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: I don't own anything.


End file.
